High Vacuuming Improves Indoor Air Quality

Ace Cleaning Systems began offering high dusting service as a way to better service its customers PHOTO COURTESY OF ACE CLEANING SYSTEMS

About five years ago, Zach Shor found himself “Googling” at 2 a.m. because he wanted to enhance the quality of service he was giving his customers. His quest was to find a vacuum attachment that would reach high surfaces, at least 18 feet above the floor of the buildings his company cleaned. These tools needed to eradicate accumulated dust at that level or higher.

“I wanted to do a better job for our customers and also do it cost efficiently,” says Shor, who is president of Ace Cleaning Systems, Coral Springs, Florida. “What we were doing wasn’t working.” 

He says employees were removing the dust that settled at an 8-foot level, but then they waited around for the debris to settle before they could vacuum it up and remove it from the building. They also weren’t eliminating dust much above a height of 8 feet. 

Shor’s internet search turned up one of the first companies to sell wands that attached to a backpack vacuum that facilitated high-access cleaning. Why was that elevated dust an issue? Because it was a major contributor to polluted indoor air.

Poor air quality has been associated with headaches, fatigue, trouble concentrating, irritation of the lungs and other health issues, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Importance Of Good IAQ

Accumulated dust contributes to poor indoor air quality (IAQ), air that everyone breathes — the workers in the building, those who visit and even the cleaning staff.

If a building service contractor’s goal is to provide the cleanest and healthiest environment for its clients, like Shor’s is, then it needs to eliminate that difficult-to-remove dust that settles high above the floors. 

As people move in and out of rooms, their dead skin mixes with dust and debris from outdoors. Further examination shows indoor dust is composed of textile and paper fibers, human skin cells, human hair and food particles. Outdoor dust is made up of materials like sand, soil, pollen from flowers, mold spores and fungi. All those components of dust contribute to less-than-ideal air quality.

Inferior air quality leads to irritations of the eyes, low employee morale and eventually, the health of company profits. That “dust” mixture can also slow down the efficacy of an HVAC ventilation system. Yet, most of the time the dust in hard-to-reach areas remains undetected.

“It’s out of sight and out of mind for your cleaning customers,” says Shor. “They look at cubicles, floors and trash cans, but don’t usually look up, so that dust goes unnoticed.”

When elevated dust accumulates over the years, people who suffer from allergies often feel worse while they’re at work than they do at home. When Shor markets his high dusting services, he demonstrates how to make employees feel better by just vacuuming one vent. 

He tells the potential client how the elusive dust is polluting the air everyone in their establishment is breathing and he shows before and after photos of vents Ace has cleaned. Usually that’s enough for them to sign a contract, says Shor. Now all he needs to know is how often they want the high-dusting service performed.